St. Louis is home to many exciting attractions that will keep the whole family busy while visiting this unique city. St. Louis is most famous for the Gateway Arch, an imposing 630-foot stainless steel arch commemorating Thomas Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase. Visitors can ride to the top and take in views that stretch 10 miles to the east and west. For a more adult attraction, make sure to visit the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. Those of legal drinking age can enjoy two free glasses of beer at the end of the tour, which is also free. The famous Clydesdale horses are kept at the Brewery, so younger people won't be left out of the fun—visitors may watch the Clydesdales in their exercise field or stabled in the carriage house. For more attractions and activities in the St. Louis area, check out the list below.

Gateway Arch

707 N. 1st St., St. Louis MO; Tel. 877.982.1410

There is more to St. Louis than the Gateway Arch, but since its construction in 1965, nothing has symbolized the city's location on the Western bank of the Mississippi more than the 630-ft stainless steel arch. It commemorates President Thomas Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase, which overnight doubled the size of the United States. But the gleaming Arch is more than a symbol -- visitors can still ride to the top via egg-shaped pods that scale the inside of the structure in a manner half-amusement park ride and half-elevator. At the top, visitors can peer 10 miles to the East or West through small rectangular windows before returning safely to the base of the Arch and the rest of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.

St. Louis Union Station

1820 Market St., St. Louis MO; Tel. 314.421.6655

At its peak, more than 100,000 people a day traveled through this 11-acre stone palace. Its whimsical quarry rock exterior resembles a European castle, complete with red-roofed turrets and an expansive outdoor fountain, more than it does a train station. While Union Station is no longer a functional rail station, an expansive restoration project has restored this century old landmark's original grandeur. The old train yard has been transformed into an indoor mall, with more than 100 stores, restaurants, bars and even a brewery. Hooters and the Hard Rock Café have outposts here, but so do The Body Shop and other less salacious boutiques. The Hyatt Regency St. Louis has taken advantage of the Station's upper floors transforming a building once destined for the wrecking ball into a world-class hotel.

Anheuser-Busch Brewery

12th and Lynch Sts., St. Louis MO; Tel. 314.577.2333

Beer lovers can enjoy two free glasses of Bud at the end of the free brewery tour. Famous brewskie enthusiast Homer Simpson would turn this place upside down like he did when we went on that tour of the Duff Brewery. Under-21ers who can't partake in the beer sampling can enjoy watching the famous Bud Clydesdale horses; they can watch the Clydesdales in their exercise field or in the carriage house.

Citygarden

Between 8th Street & 10th Street, St. Louis MO

A spectacular blend of a sculpture garden, botanical garden and urban park in the heart of downtown St. Louis, a few blocks from the Gateway Arch. Citygarden contains 24 pieces of modern and contemporary sculpture by internationally renowned artists; lush plantings; three water features -- including one of the largest play fountains in the United States; a stunning glass pavilion cafe; and gorgeous landscaping. It is free and open to the public 365 days a year. More information is available at www.citygardestl.org.

Open Sunrise - 10pm daily

Soulard

Before Jefferson "purchased" St. Louis and its surrounding thousand-or-so square miles, the city was located on French soil. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the red-bricked Soulard neighborhood, located less than a mile south of the Gateway Arch and downtown. While you'll find the neighborhood bedecked in green, gold and purple during its mid-American Mardi Gras, it is best known for the 200 year-old Soulard Market where local trappers-turned-farmers come to hawk their freshest produce. At night Soulard comes alive with the sound of the blues and, on game nights, the sound of drunken revelers singing the blues.

Docked on either side of the Mississippi River are several floating, full-service casinos offering a bit of chance at the location of another, earlier, gamble -- the American frontier. Restaurants, bars, hotel suites and blackjack tables fill these floating gaming and entertainment centers that offer stunning river views of the Gateway Arch and downtown St. Louis. And while winning on these St. Louis casinos is virtually unlimited, losses are kept to a $500 maximum. The house may always win, but the houseboat, evidently, is a bit kinder.

Forest Park

At 1,370 acres, Forest Park is bigger than New York's famed Central Park. How's that for westward expansion? And true to its name, the park does at times resemble a real forest with verdant stretches of trees, quiet creeks, ponds and an amazing variety of bridges with which to cross them. Far from an overgrown orchard, the Park is home to the St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis Science Center and the Missouri History Museum. Native birds and travelling flocks provide an elegant symphony, while squirrels and chipmunks diving for acorns from the numerous oaks are natural entertainers. Should you run into a hippo, however, you've entered the Park's acclaimed zoo.

St. Louis Zoo

One Government Drive, Forest Park, St. Louis MO; Tel. 314.781.0900

Located in Forest Park, this lush city zoo is the pride of St. Louis -- and not just for its assemblage of lions. In addition to the standard collection of tigers, giraffes, elephants and monkeys, the Zoo has an incredible insectarium, roaming gazelles, flamingos and seals. But it's the cascading Riverwalk that deserves the most attention. While tracing the relationship between running water and the animals that inhabit it from the Mississippi and the Nile to the Amazon, the Zoo offers an unusually up-close look at oddly shaped (and often passed-over) creatures such as the anteater and the warthog. And though you can't touch them, it certainly seems like you could. And in a generous St. Louis tradition, the zoo is free, to boot.

Busch Stadium

7th and Walnut Sts., St. Louis MO; Tel. 314.421.2400

Home of the powerhouse baseball team, the St. Louis Cardinals, Busch Stadium is conveniently located in downtown St. Louis. Local record-breaker Mark McGwire may have retired and lent his name to a local stretch of freeway, but the Cardinals continue on in this world-famous stadium. Within walking distance of most of the city's hotels, Busch Stadium has a great location for St. Louis tourism, if not so great for the traffic.